26 November 2007

holiday weekends are exhausting.

whew. the holiday weekend is over. finally. part of me feels like it flew by but there's another part of me that feels like we celebrated for a week. maybe because a lot of that celebrating happened at my house...the cleanup always adds hours and days...

a not-so-brief itinerary. mostly for my sake...so i can remember all that happened when it comes time to scrapbook.

thursday. 22 november 2oo7.

7am. elijah wakes up. therefore john and i wake up. funny how it works that way.8am. breakfast at john's sister's house. and coffee. must have coffee.9am. i head back home to shower and start preparations. make a new playlist for my ipod (with christmas music!), set the table, get the turkey and apple pie out of the fridge, etc.11am. the turkey is in the oven. finally. it took longer to prepare than i originally thought.11am-3pm. juana, jackie and maria arrive (around 11). massive food preparation ensues. the menu is thus:

turkey. duh. which i made.

two kinds of stuffing. mushroom sausage and apple cranberry. yum. which i also made.

mashed potatoes. which i didn't make.

roasted yams. i cut them up but i didn't roast them.

corn. from a bag. hmmm.

rolls. homemade even! i wasn't planning to make rolls but jackie was complaining about the quality of rolls that her grandmother purchased...and since they're not my fav either...homemade rolls it was. and man! they were so worth it.

cranberry sauce. which i also made.

macaroni and cheese. not the from-a-box kind either. homemade. guess it's traditional. who knew? obviously, i didn't make this one.

to drink: wine (for the adults), sparkling cider (for the kids), and water (for elijah, though i think we all had some)

i think that's it for the menu. but for some reason i feel like i forgot something. oh well. it'll come to me. elijah loved his thanksgiving meal...gobbled it right up (and yes, i used the word "gobble" on purpose). i was a bit sorry there was no green salad on the table...but seeing as we had too much food anyways...i think i was the only one who missed it.3pm. eating. eating. eating. more eating. more eating. oof.4pm. head outside for a walk. we went to mistlin sports park, a ten minute walk (walking slow) from our house. john, juana, jackie, miggie and juan all played soccer/football/frisbee while maria and i watched elijah toddle around. then we took e over to the slides until it got too dark to see. juan and jackie had a foot race home...i think juan ultimately won though jackie will vehemently deny this.5pm. pie time. we had pumpkin and apple. the pumkpin was made by none other than jackie...the apple pie was purchased at apple hill a few weeks prior (we have one saved for christmas too. yum!)6pm. start the gingerbread mayhem. i purchased three gingerbread house kits (one for each family) at trader joe's and we went to town decorating them. john tasted the "frosting" which is a lot more like glue than frosting since it has vinegar in it. poor john. he thought it was regular frosting! the look on his face though...ha! the end result was gingerbread masterpieces...of course.8pm. everyone pretty much headed home at this point. john and i cleaned up but thankfully most of the dishes had already been done. all that was left was the dessert dishes and the gingerbread mess. i think we headed to bed around 9pm.

friday. 23 november 2007.

8am. elijah slept in. nice.9am. john leaves for carnegie...a dirt biker's mecca. ok. maybe not a mecca. but certainly a gathering for the crazies that insist on participating in such a silly sport. hmm. it's basically just hills and a few tracks...i find it all rather boring to be completely honest. but john loves it and it's a great outlet for him...so i try not to say much. except when he hurts himself...like he did this day. i didn't see it happen but supposedly he hit a rock and flew over his handlebars...then after he finally tumbled to a stop, his bike landed on him. ouch. he bruised some ribs and jacked his shoulder up pretty bad. he still can't really lift e without wincing or lift his arms over his head. but really...what can i say?11am. juana, jackie, elijah and i leave for carnegie with lunch for the boys. we stopped at old navy on the way so i could return a few things. i think that was the first time i've ever entered a store on black friday. the crowd wasn't terrible while we were there...but we certainly didn't stay long. and technically, since we weren't really shopping...it doesn't really count, right? after picking up lunch at the store, we made the 45 minute drive over the river and through the woods. we hung out at carnegie for a few hours, watching miggie and jackie ride. elijah was loving it! he couldn't get enough of the bikes...*sigh* well, at least john will have someone to go with him in a few years.4pm. arrive back at home. dusty and dirty.5pm. john comes back home.6pm. dinner. at our house. again. this time we had a casserole made out of the leftovers from the day before. at first i was a bit skeptical (so were the kids. enough so that they convinced their grandpa to take them to taco bell.) but it was actually really good. surprisingly.8pm. elijah goes to bed...and so do i. the events of the previous two days had worn me out. sleep is good.

saturday and sunday aren't really that interesting...they really don't need an hourly itinerary. saturday we drove into redwood city so i could do a maternity photo shoot for a friend of mine. the pictures turned out cute and we got to stop at the pleasanton mall on the way back home. usually i'm not a big mall shopper (i prefer online shopping. no crowds! and a way better selection typically.) but there were all the sales going on...so i did get some stuff for e and got really good deals. sunday i sang at church...then the rest of the day was pretty chill. i did get a bit of christmas merriment put up...but not as much as i wanted too. i think it's going to be an ongoing project. hopefully, it'll all be done by this weekend. don't know how long i can handle having all the boxes lying around...especially when all elijah wants to do is explore their contents. we'll see. i kinda find the whole prospect a bit daunting. which surprises me.

anyways...elijah just woke up from his nap. he's probably hungry. that pretty much concludes the weekend update anyways. more later!

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About Me

i wish i could read six hours a day. i think televisions and microwaves are overrated. i hate throwing up, traffic, pants that won't stay up and sticky fingers, in that order. i could eat popcorn for dinner every night and be okay with that. i dream of a day that i can love completely unselfishly. i love creating little snatches of beauty with my hands. i pray i stop being so wrapped up in myself that i forget to see the awesome wonder of God. i am trying to be a defector of the american dream. i see the world best through a viewfinder. i love dirty feet and sun-kissed cheeks at the end of a summers day: evidence of a day well-spent. i can't live without hearing my children's laughter. i am trying to be less obsessive about the state of cleanliness of my house and more obsessive about the memories that are made there. i live for my husbands kisses and strong arms. i will take winter over summer any day. i long for the day i can see my Savior face-to-face and throw myself down at His perfect, blameless feet. i am simple, just a girl...trying to figure out this crazy thing called life.